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Monday, July 25, 2005
I'm off!
This is it. Tomorrow I take off for the big RWA National Conference in Reno, Nevada. I'm packed (almost) & raring to go (for the most part). The cats are fed, the hair is dyed, the clothes are coordinated...appointments have been made, itinerary is printed, tickets are in the front pocket of my purse. All that's left is to wake up in the morning, tie up loose ends, and survive the long trip almost all the way across the country.
Of course, I won't be posting again until after I get back. Maybe even for a few days after, since I'm usually in a comatose state immediately following a big conference like this. But hopefully the wait will be worth it & I'll have lots to report upon my return.
Until then, try to stay cool!
Sunday, July 24, 2005
3...2...1...
Not counting today, there are only two days left before I hop on a plane & wing my way to Reno. I've got one suitcase packed & am whittling down the rest of my list. I'm still expecting to forget something, but hopefully it won't be anything vital. Still reading SEDUCED BY MOONLIGHT by Laurell K. Hamilton & TEN BIG ONES by Janet Evanovich. Reading is my favorite thing to do in the week (or last few days, anway) leading up to a big conference. I read a couple paragraphs, remember something else I need, & jump up to find or pack it. But I'm not taking either book with me on this trip because both are hardbacks. Instead, I dug out a few small, paperback Desires that will be much easier to carry. In other news, the neighbors' gas grill exploded today. I heard a noise...sounded sort of like a big, industrial fan blowing, then a door being slammed shut so that I couldn't hear the fan anymore...but didn't think much of it. Then, next thing I knew, the neighbors were hosing down their deck & the side of their house. I didn't see the actual explosion, but the siding is melted & scorched. Thank God no one was standing nearby when it happened. In fact, I don't think anyone was on the deck or near the grill at the time; if they had been, they could have been seriously hurt or killed. And the bunny that sits outside the dining room & living room windows to eat is getting bigger...& the cats are still entertained. :-D
Friday, July 22, 2005
I'm #1!...& en Espanol
  Two very cool things happened today. First, I received an e-mail from CataRomance.com informing me that BLAME IT ON THE BLACKOUT has been chosen to receive the Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Silhouette Desire of 2005. (The first half of 2005, anyway.) How great is that? I'm bouncing off the walls, I'm so excited! See the nice little award they gave me...which will be posted all over my website very soon, believe me. :-D
Second very cool thing... I got the author copies for the Spanish edition of BOUGHT BY A MILLIONAIRE. It is now called Situacion Desesperada. Shiny. :-) I love how much more of the artwork you can see in this version. (Who knew there were French doors over there?)
Thursday, July 21, 2005
the countdown continues
Four days & counting...
The RWA conference is getting closer & closer--ack! Got my hair done & I really think I'm going to like it. Any time I get a new cut & color, it takes a while for it to grow on me, so I'm never really sure until I've lived with it for a few days. I went with red...he he...really red. The basic color isn't terribly different than what I had before--which was brown, just like my natural color, with some reddish-violet highlights. But then I went a step farther & had red (real red, like a crayon or fire engine) streaks put in. I've wanted to do something like this for quite a while, so I figured this was my chance to try it out. Right now, they sort of blend, so they don't stand out as much as I'd hoped, but once I wash my hair & restyle it myself, they may become more prominent. And if not, there's always the next time to go bolder.
I also--finally--dug out my suitcases. I think a cat has been sleeping on them, because they were covered with fur. LOL Masking tape to the rescue! But they're cleaned up & open on my bed so I can start throwing things in. Got cat food, dug out a couple of Desires I think I'll take along to read on the plane, & started putting some outfits together, so those things can be crossed off my list. Talked to my agent & set up a time to get together...we're doing breakfast one of the days of the conference, which should be nice.
The writing, sadly, is at an almost complete stand-still. Sadly, but not surprisingly. I did finish chapter 9 this morning, but I don't usually get much work done the week before conference...I'm too busy making lists & packing & being nervous about trying to get everything done. But since I'm way farther along with the story than I expected to be at this point, I'm okay with taking a little break. And hopefully, once everything's packed & I'm on the plane with nothing else to distract me, I'll be able to get back to it. I'll be taking my Alphie & continuity notes along in my carry-on tote. I don't leave home without them! :-)
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
guilty pleasures
All right, I admit it. Gordon Ramsey is a big old meanie, but I am hooked on HELL'S KITCHEN. I sat mesmerized again last night, waiting to see what new & creative curses he'd come up with to scream at those poor saps. I mean, really, who would volunteer to put themselves thru something like that? Not me! And am I the only one who can't figure out why they picked complete newbies to compete? You'd think they would at least choose contestants who'd been working in restaurants for a while already, instead of a stay-at-home mom or bartender with absolutely no cooking experience. Yikes.
But I tune in every week to hear the insults, just like I do with the beginning episodes of AMERICAN IDOL. I don't know who's worse, Chef Ramsey or Simon Cowell. Okay, yes, I do. Chef Ramsey because he screams & has easy access to meat cleavers. Simon only has dry wit and a pencil.
Another guilty pleasure: the Black-Eyed Peas' "Don't Phunk With My Heart". I cannot get that song out of my head. Morning, noon, & night, I catch myself humming it. And have you seen the video? It's pretty memorable, too.
Monday, July 18, 2005
the countdown begins
The RWA conference is coming up fast. In only eight days, I'll be on a plane, flying to Reno, Nevada. I've been there before (for the Romantic Times convention a few years ago) & loved it, so I'm hoping this year's trip will be equally enjoyable.
But there's so much to do before I go! The cats are running out of food, so I have to get to the vet to buy more...I get my hair colored & cut this afternoon--please, God, let it turn out; I've been caught up in a bad hair spiral for a couple of years now...I need to make notes for the pet sitter...dig out my suitcases...decide what to wear & pack...worry that I'll forget something...charge new batteries for my AlphaSmart since I'm down to about 3% power...feed the birds...decide what book(s) to take along to read on the plane...set the VCRs...buy snacks for the hotel room... The list goes on & on.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
yard-saled out
Today is my brother's birthday. Happy birthday, Toby! I'll have to give him a call later to wish him well & see how he's doing. And to see what he thought of the card I sent him. It cracked me up, but there's no telling whether he found it as amusing as I did or not. I also had a CARA meeting today, which went well, but I think I slept thru half of it. I'm still tired from yesterday, when Mom & I got up at 6am to hit the 100-Mile Yard Sale. It's becoming an annual mother/daughter tradition. Oh, my goodness, is it fun! Hot & exhausting, & this year we were swarmed by gnats & other assorted bugs, but FUN.
Our booty included a lot of Winnie-the-Pooh stuff...he's one of my favorites, so I got a big stuffed Pooh doll & a smaller Piglet one (no idea what I'll do with them, but they were too adorable to pass up), a mug, a bank, a tote bag, a container I can use for whatever, hat boxes, a watch, & a make-up bag; a pair of cherry flannel pajamas; a pair of kitty cat pajamas; a blouse; a rock tumbler; a window bed for the cats; a big fan to help cool off living room on these hot, hot, hot & humid summer days; & some post-its & banker's clasps (even at yard sales, I'm in the market for office supplies! :-)); a scarab bracelet; pink teardrop earrings; hair scrunchies... Goodness, I can't even remember it all.
We also saw a big, black rattlesnake in the middle of the road out in an area called Quehanna. (We've seen them out there at least two other times, which only reminds me not to get out of the car & pee in the woods around there. :-p) It was coiled up, rattles shaking. I think it was either crossing the road or trying to soak up the heat of the asphalt, & a car whizzed by & scared it. I worried the whole rest of the day that it would get hit or some yahoo would run it over on purpose. But on the way home, I looked & looked for it, but never saw it splattered on the road, so I think it must have gotten to the other side safely.
We ended the day with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants & soft-serve ice cream cones for dessert. Yummy. Of course, as soon as we got home, we dropped & could barely wake up this morning. It will probably take a couple of days to fully recover from all that running around. And I only got a little bit sunburned on my shoulders. It was so overcast that I forgot to wear sunscreen. I should have known better & been more careful, but we still had a great day.
I already can't wait until next year! :-D
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Firefly on Sci-Fi (part 2)
Try as I might, I couldn't find the dates & times of Sci-Fi's airing of FIREFLY in the TV Guide. (Is it just me, or is TV Guide getting less & less helpful about listing actual shows & times? There are entire chunks of days when they don't give so much as a hint of what's on. How annoying!) So I went to SciFi.com & found the upcoming FIREFLY schedule:
7/22 -- 7pm -- "Serenity, Part 1"
7/29 -- 6pm -- "Serenity, Part 1" (encore, I guess :-)) 7/29 -- 7pm -- "Serenity, Part 2" 8/05 -- 7pm -- ? 8/12 -- 7pm -- ? 8/19 -- 7pm -- ? 8/26 -- 7pm -- ?
Yay! I'm pretty sure I'll only miss one episode because of the RWA conference. Not too shabby. And again, I do have them on DVD, so technically I don't have to miss anything. But I want to watch them when they're on...show Sci-Fi how popular the series is so they'll keep playing them. :-D
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
8 1/2 pages
I got 8 1/2 pages written yesterday, which, for me, is phenomenal. It might not sound like much compared to more prolific writers like Laurell K. Hamilton or Nora Roberts, but for me it's freaking fantastic. I've been known to write 8, 10, 15 pages in a sitting, but that's usually at the end of a book, when things are really coming together & my deadline is looming large. Otherwise, I consider 2-3 pages per day good progress.
But lately, I've been tearing up the AlphaSmart. I don't know what it is, but this story is going so well. It's MISTER & MISTRESS, my first continuity for Silhouette Desire, so I'm doubly nervous about doing a good job. And a part of me...that really big, neurotic, paranoid part of me...is petrified that if things are going this well, I must be doing something wrong. But I keep reading over my synopsis, referring back to my bible, & I think I'm dotting all my is & crossing all my ts. Plus, I can always keep an extra close eye on the flow of the entire book when I go back to revise & polish.
So what it is that's helping this book move along so well? Is it that I love the story? I do. As soon as I heard the highlights of the plot & found out my heroine would be a sexy ex-showgirl with chunky blonde highlights in her hair, I knew I was going to have a blast writing about her. But I tend to love all my characters & stories, & still, none of them have ever seemed to flow this well this early on.
Maybe it's that I've adopted a new routine. For the longest time, I would wake up at 8am & be in bed by 10 or 11pm because Angel needed his pills, I needed my sleep, & if I didn't go to bed early, then I knew I'd never be able to wake up the next day. But I'm a nightowl at heart & I was never really tired at 10 or 11pm, so I'd go to bed, then toss & turn half the night, still waking up groggy in the morning. Lately, I've been waking up at 8am (for the past two weeks, it's been 6:30am, then back to bed, then up again at 8am because Angel needed two sets of pills, but--God willing--I'm done with that now) & going thru my day. I get a lot done in the mornings & early afternoon, but it's not usually writing. Then when I do sit down with my AlphaSmart, I'll write until I get tired & either my brain slows down or my eyes start to droop. And that may be 1 or 2 in the morning.
It's working so much better for me. I no longer feel guilty when the bulk of the day flits by & I've gotten little to no writing done...because I know I have all night to work, if I need it. And because I do need a certain amount of sleep, I sometimes take a nap in the middle of the day. Sounds lazy, but judging by the amount of writing I've been getting done lately, it's paying off. I've also noticed that I can get a huge chunk of pages done in the matter of just a few hours, whereas it used to take me all day to eke out even half that much.
It may not last forever, but for now it's working darn well for me, so I'm going to keep at it.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Firefly on Sci-fi
How excited am I?!? I just read in the TV Guide that the Sci-Fi Channel will be playing all fourteen episodes of FIREFLY starting July 22nd. Yay! This show is the best, hands-down. And even tho I own the series on DVD, I still have this overwhelming urge to set the VCR & record them all over again. How strange is that?
But I'm still going to watch as many of them as possible. I'm a little worried I'll be away at the RWA Conference during some of them, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it. Hopefully they'll repeat. And when I get home, I can always watch the discs...like I did just a couple weeks ago.
Too bad Sci-Fi didn't pick up the series as soon as Fox cancelled it so they could keep it going. It would have been fabulous. And I already ordered the "Serenity" comic book at my local bookstore...it was supposed to be released last week, but I haven't picked it up yet. It's an arc between the series & the movie, which is being released in September. I can't wait to see that, either...then buy it the first day it comes out on DVD. :-D
FIREFLY Rocks!!!! (Can you tell?)
Friday, July 08, 2005
Ethan Banks--a very popular guy
Wow. I have to say, I'm completely overwhelmed by the number of e-mails, letters, & message board posts I've received asking if Ethan--Peter's best friend from BLAME IT ON THE BLACKOUT--will be getting his own book. They've been pouring in every since BLACKOUT hit the shelves, & I just got another one this morning.
This is great, fabulous, don't get me wrong. I'm simply stunned by how popular a guy Ethan is becoming. I've done spin-offs & connected books before, but this is the first time I can remember when so many people are asking if a secondary character will be getting his own story. Ethan is kind of womanizer, which is why it surprises me that so many people are interested in seeing what happens to him. Of course, I'm a sucker for stories where a lady's man finally finds the one woman who can make him settle down, so maybe that's it. Ethan also likes cats. See, if men only knew, they'd all adopt cats at their local animal shelters, then go home & wait for women to flock to them. :-D
And just for the record, Ethan is getting his own story. WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN (see previous post) will be out in October 2005. It pegs nightclub owner Ethan with a shy librarian-turned-sexy vixen. I let my mother read the book in galley form & she says it's her favorite yet. Of course, she's a librarian, so I think she might be biased. She has also worked up a frenzy of interest for the story among her librarian friends...they keep asking when it will be out so they can finally see this mousy librarian turn so hot, the local lothario makes it his goal in life to track her down. He he. Even I'm starting to get excited.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
new artwork & back cover copy
 It's been an uneventful few days, except for the fact that I stumbled upon the new cover for my October Desire, WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN, while surfing the 'net earlier. I didn't think it would be ready this early, but there it was, gorgeous as can be. I will attempt to post it here, but since I haven't received the actual art file yet from Silhouette, it's "stolen" from BN.com & may be a little blurry. If it is, I'll re-post it later when I have a better copy.
Anyway, it's bee-utiful...& I'm not being biased, it really is. I think the pose is striking (the hero looks a little bit like Eric McCormick from Will & Grace, don't you think?) & I love the candle with the plume of smoke drifting up between them. Not to mention the title, bold as can be going straight down the middle. And look--my name is in the same font. Cool.
Once I saw the cover, I e-mailed my editor's assistant & asked if she could send me the back cover copy. She's wonderful, & got it to me just few hours later. So here it is, adding to the coolness that is my new cover:
Today is Gwen Thomas's 31st birthday.
She's given herself T-minus 24-hours to change her life.
8 a.m. Call out sick from the library.
8:01 Scour yellow pages for Emergency Beauty Technicians.
10 - noon Hair. Good-bye mousy. Hello, auburn.
noon - 1 p.m Nails. Be bold!
2 - 3 Makeup. Nix au naturel for Notice-Me.
3 - 5 Shopping. Trade dated look for date-able.
10 Arrive at The Hot Spot. Pretend you've gone clubbing before.
11 Fight polyester lizard's advances--and the disappointment of a failed
mission.
11:30 Revel in being rescued by Ethan Banks. Don't let sexy club owner's chivalry prevent mission completion.
When the lights
go down Lose virginity...finally!
In the light of a new day, something had indeed changed for Gwen:
She was in over her head...
Aside from the lousy formatting (here only; on the book, it's going to look great!) isn't it adorable? I'm thrilled. I'll get both the cover & back cover copy up on the main pages of my website as soon as possible. They'll look better there, I'm sure.
So I've been carrying print-outs of those around with me, rejoicing that the cover gods smiled upon me once again. And I've been writing. I'm in the middle of chapter 6 & going strong. Yay!
I finished A CARESS OF TWILIGHT & think I'll start SEDUCED BY MOONLIGHT (both by Laurell K. Hamilton) next, just to get caught up with the entire series. Also finished SIN CITY WEDDING by Katherine Garbera on the treadmill, then started THE CINDERELLA SCANDAL by Barbara McCauley. Both are part of the "Dynasties: The Danforths" continuity series for Desire, tho I'm reading them out of order. :-)
Now it's time to get back to the writing! Only have 2pgs so far today & I want to get way more done before I go to bed.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
I broke a nail
Happy day after the Fourth of July! I hope everyone's holiday weekend was safe & I enjoyable. As for me, I spent the entire day perched in front of the television, watching the MONK marathon on USA. I love that show! I was a little disappointed they didn't show more of the older episodes that I hadn't seen in a while, but that's okay.
The strangest thing is going on with me. I'm having trouble typing. And this is after I was already having trouble typing, but I think I'm getting worse instead of better. See, when I was little, I used to bite my nails. So when I stopped doing that & began to let my nails grow, I really let them grow. I don't do manicures & rarely even paint them, but I also won't cut or trim them unless I have a chip or break that can't be ignored. (You know, when they catch on things or are broken into the quick so that they hurt.) Which basically means that I walk around on a regular basis with my nails all different lengths. And some of them get pretty darn long. I get asked all the time, "Are your nails real?" Of course, I say yes, but I also show people how uneven they are. If they were fake, they would either all be the same length or my manicurtist would have some 'splainin' to do.
Anyway, the nails on my right hand have been pretty short for a while, but the ones on my left hand have been growing like weeds...one was just over half an inch long, the other just under--yes, I measured :-P...& making it increasingly difficult to type. They slip down between the keys of my keyboard, get stuck, or hit the t when I'm going for an f. But would I cut them? Even trim them down a little? Hell, no.
But then it began... Like dominoes, they started to break, & there was no stopping them. I was getting into bed the other night & I must have cracked into something because when I looked, the middle fingernail was broken halfway across. And all the way down to the quick, of course. Well, shoot. But, okay, I'd kind of been not only expecting, but waiting for it to happen, so I got out my clippers & cut it off. The next morning, I noticed the nail on my ring finger was also cracked pretty far down, & later the index one. So that's it, they're all gone. And in a way, I was relieved, thinking that I would finally be able to type faster & with fewer mistakes.
Ha! I have had more trouble typing since they broke off than before. I must have gotten used to holding my hands differently on the keyboard to make room for them or something, because I'm making just as many mistakes now & even missing keys when I mean to hit them. What is with that? I guess having short nails again--at least on that hand--is going to take some getting used to. And to top it all off, I'll have stubby, ugly little things for the RWA conference at the end of the month, darn it. I could paint them, but that would probably only draw more attention to how short they are.
Oh, well. I've always claimed I don't care about my nails, so I guess now is the time to put up or shut up. But I sure hope I get better at the typing soon. All this retyping & running SpellCheck is getting ridiculous.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
mystery solved!
For the past week, my cats have been going nuts in front of two downstairs windows. They used to be allowed outside & aren't anymore, so they have a problem with the scent of fresh air when they can't get out there to enjoy it, anyway. But this was different. This summer, we've had the downstairs windows open & they've been really good about not crying or scratching or trying to make a break for it. Then suddenly, they started pacing & twitching & crying at these two windows. And only these two windows. It got so bad that we had to keep them closed much of the time to keep them from trying to claw their way to the outside world. Every day one of us would go out, trying to figure out what it was that had them so worked up. My mother weeded the flowers along that side of the house, thinking she might discover a garter snake or termite mound or some such. No luck. I went out with a yard stick & started poking into the ground. I even sprayed some stuff that's supposed to take away odors in case a stray cat had been out there spraying. Still no luck. And then this morning, the mystery was solved. When I opened the windows, the cats were immediately there, sniffing & shaking with excitement, their little tails twitching like crazy. I didn't expect to see anything today, any more than I'd seen anything all the other days, but when I looked out, there it was... A tiny little bunny rabbit, chewing away on the grass like nobody's business. Poor thing had no clue that the danger of four very excited, hungry cats lurked only a few feet away.
So now we know. And while we're keeping an eye on them to make sure they don't go thru the screens, we are no longer worried about killer bees or peeping Toms or things only cats can see. LOL
Saturday, July 02, 2005
why didn't somebody tell me my butt was this big?
Do you remember that line from SPACEBALLS, when Mel Brooks gets transported from one room to another & his head ends up backwards so he can see his own ass? That line always cracked me up.
Well, this morning, I had a similar experience. Now, keep in mind that I am not a small person. My favorite descriptions vary from "pleasantly plump" & "big-boned" to "rubenesque" or (a la Garfield) "I'm not fat, I'm fluffy". So no matter what I say in the rest of this post, don't be expecting to see Twiggy the next time you run into me. Anyway, I hadn't been up very long this morning when my mother said, "Your butt looks smaller today." I think I stood frozen for about a minute, my eyes blinking rapidly, but no thoughts flitting thru my stunned brain. I couldn't decide if I should be pleased or offended. I mean, really, when someone starts talking about your ass without invitation, it's hard to know how to respond. But I guess I'll take it as a good thing, because she claims it looks smaller than it did even yesterday. (I don't know how this is physically possible, but I'll take it.)
But that one comment really screwed up my day. It's Saturday & I'd been up late writing, then up early to give the cat his pills. I basically wanted to plop down in front of the TV & veg all day...maybe write later, but mostly veg. Instead, I found myself thinking that if my butt was, indeed, beginning to shrink, I shouldn't miss the opportunity to keep that downsizing in motion. So instead of vegging, I changed into workout clothes & climbed on the treadmill. I love the treadmill. I especially love to walk on the treadmill when I've got a good book going, which I do in SIN CITY WEDDING, a Desire by Kathy Garbera. So it wasn't a hardship to keep going once I was on there, but it's always a chore to make myself change clothes & get on in the first place. Same goes for Tae Bo & the airbike.
But today I walked, even tho I usually take the weekend off. All because my mother told me my but didn't look quite so big. :-P
Friday, July 01, 2005
Nicholas
 And this is the wee one, the baby of the family, Nicholas. He is just the sweetest cat ever...but don't tell the others I said that!
Precious
 This is Indiana's sister, Precious, with the little white hourglass on her nose. :-)
Indiana
 This is Indiana--Indy, for short--sitting amidst the flowers from my dad's funeral, unfortunately. He's one of the middle children & is named after Indiana Jones because when he was just a teeny-tiny kitten, he used to swing & jump & run all over the place...way more adventurous than his brothers & sisters.
Angel
 This is my oldest kitty cat, Angel. His full name is Angelbutt Betts, but you probably don't want to know why. :-P
waking up
Morning, all! I'm not sure I'm quite awake yet, but I'm trying. Lots to do today... I need to start putting together the CARA newsletter, which includes writing a President's Message & an article about the WRW Retreat in May (put that off as long as I could, believe me). I'll also be running a series of three month-long contests on my website soon...giving away the most adorable bustier bags...so I need to get the pictures & text put together for those. And most importantly I have to make up for yesterday's rather disappointing writing. Only got 2pgs done when I'd been really trucking along earlier in the week, doing 5 & even 7 1/2 pages per day. Pffft. But the story is running smoothly (knock on wood!) & I'm loving it, so I guess that counts.
On the reading front, I finished Virginia Kantra's "Endgame" in the FEMME FATALE anthology, but am still working on THE NERD WHO LOVED ME by Vicki Lewis Thompson & A CARESS OF TWILIGHT by Laurell K. Hamilton. Also started SIN CITY WEDDING by Katherine Garbera on the treadmill & GOOD IN BED by Jennifer Weiner. I've been hearing great things about Weiner's books forever & figured I should finally jump into one. So far, I think everyone was right. :-)
Oh, & I figured out how to post photos, so one of these days I'm going to put up pictures of my kiddos. I only have, like, a million to choose from.:-)
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